FinTech Voice, November 2, 2023

Hi Community,

Hope you're well. I travelled to Taipei last week to speak at FinTech Taipei and to learn more about the local market. If you're keen to learn more about the region and are exploring alternative markets to expand into, please reach out.

Stu, Head of Community, is headed to Singapore in two weeks for SFF. Don't miss the Australia pavilion if you're going to be there. 

Reliability and trust are paramount in the fintech industry and the power of independent reviews have been leveraged by fintech companies. Our Corporate Partner, Trustpilot have released a report to help you learn how review platforms impact your business - "Not all stars are equal: How independent reviews fuel growth in finance"

Endava have released a comprehensive Fintech/Payment report which includes findings from key fintech stakeholders, opportunities and challenges in today's fintech world post-pandemic, and more. Read here.

Kind regards,

Rehan D’Almeida,

General Manager,

FinTech Australia

Policy Update

Screen scraping submission 

FinTech Australia has made its submission to Treasury's consultation on the policy and regulatory implications of screen scraping.

Thank you to the dozens of members who contributed to developing our submission over the last month. 

You can visit our Policy page to see the final submission.

Follow-up consultation on Digital ID

Following the recent consultation on Digital ID legislation, the Department of Finance is seeking further industry feedback on two specific issues:

• Small businesses joining the government system - a principle of the framework is that alternatives to Digital ID should be maintained and some feedback indicates small businesses may not be interested in maintaining multiple identification channels.

• Regulatory blockages to the adoption of Digital ID by small businesses - i.e. are there legal requirements blocking small business adoption and could Digital ID be used to reduce regulatory burdens?

If you are interested in engaging with the Department on these issues, please contact us and we will put you in touch with the relevant team.

AUSTRAC increasing penalties for failure to enrol

The AML/CTF Act 2006 has recently been amended to clarify how penalty units accrue for unenrolled businesses. 

Now if a business has provided a 'designated service' (e.g. Financial Services, Trading Bullion, or Gambling Service) for 28 days and failed to enroll with AUSTRAC, it is liable to accrue daily penalties from the 9th of November 2023. These will accrue until the businesses enrols or stops providing such designated services. 

For each day unenrolled it may be liable for up to 12 penalty units with each penalty unit equaling currently $313, or up to 60 penalty units for bodies corporates.

We are currently working on the submission to:

1. Regulating Digital Asset Platforms - Proposals Paper

2. Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 – Exposure draft legislation consultation

We recently made submissions on:

1. Screen Scraping - Policy and Regulatory Implications 

2. CDR rules - Expansion to the non-bank lending sector

3. CDR Consent Review and operational enhancements design papers

4. ACCC Data Brokers Issues paper;

5. Supporting Responsible AI: Discussion Paper;

6. Licensing of payment service providers - payment functions;

7. Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998;

8. Modernising Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing consultation;

9. Senator Bragg's Digital Asset (Market Regulation) Bill 2023;

10. AFCA Rules and Operational Guidelines consultation.

See our recent submissions on our website.

FinTech Australia regularly makes submissions to consultations across a wide range of policy and regulatory issues. Communications about how to get involved in these processes are distributed to our Policy Working Group membership.

Upcoming Events

Get excited for FinTech Australia's 2024 Flagship Events! 

Austrade and FinTech Australia are bringing in a new initiative, Fintech for Net Zero. A single afternoon showcase event to scope and learn more about the fintech for net zero business capabilities in Australia. 

🗓 Mark your calendars and make sure to secure your budgets to support these exciting events.

If you're interested in more information or receiving your prospectus, reach out to the team here.

It’s a grim statistic: only 25% of FinTechs go on to achieve their goals. This concept focuses on the significant failure rates within the FinTech sector, and points out some underlying factors for success. 

Red Hat and FinTech Australia invites you to an enlightening session to delve into the paramount importance of judiciously selecting technological partnerships, ensuring both reliability and innovative edge. Save your spot now!

Also don't miss out on these exciting events from our members and partners!  ✨

1. Basiq Summit — Dive into meaningful discussions about the evolving landscape of CDR and explore the latest advancements in Data, Insights, and Payments on the Basiq platform.

2. Singapore FinTech Festival — At this year's edition, SFF 2023 will focus on the growth and adoption of Artificial Intelligence and how this technology can potentially be used in financial services.

3. Startup to Scaleup Summit — a full-day event of keynote presentations, panel discussions, education, leadership development, and networking with fellow peers and industry leaders in the Australia startup and scaleup ecosystem.

Community Updates

Don’t miss all the news and insights from our members and corporate partners from our newsroom 📰

• Foresters Financial and Tanggram partnership to pave way for new generation of investors. Read More.

• Australian Payments Plus welcomes the release of BIS CPMI harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements to achieve more efficient, lower-cost cross-border payments. Read More.

• TreviPay Launches Financial Partner Gateway for Bank to Offer New B2B Payments and Invoicing Services. Read More.

• Leading loan comparison disruptor gears up for New Zealand Launch. Read More.

• The State of Open Baking 2024: Slowing down to speed up? Read More.

• Mambu Australia primed for rapid growth after achieving exciting customer milestone. Read More.

• BGL partners with Skript to connect clients to Open Banking. Read More.

• Making money move: The impact of FinTechs, innovation, and digital technology in B2B payments. Read More.

• Paymentology's cloud-first card issuing, and analytics platform received strong ratings from Quadrant Knowledge Solutions' SPARK Matrix™. Read More.

• Navigating the stormy seas of the commercial property market. Read More.

• Mambu announces availability in AWS Marketplace. Read More.

• LAB Group Secures New Debt Facility to Fund Growth Strategy. Read More.

• Banking technology: striking the right balance of configuration capability. Read More.

• IDVerse partners with Conga to accelerate revenue lifecycle management. Read More.

• Pause Awards '23 — 63 Finalists Announced: Celebrating Excellence and Ambition in Australia. Read More.

• Hashlock has recently conducted a Security Audit for Algem of their smart contracts. Algem is a new protocol aiming to provide Liquid Staking as the most profitable way to earn on the Astar Network and Polkadot. Read the Report Here.

New Members

Let's welcome FinTech Australia's new members! 🎉

Mint Payments

FinTech Australia's Podcast

Listen to the challenges, opportunities, and stories from our community faces across the fintech industry in Australia! 🇦🇺

In our most recent Business Spotlight episode, we had the chance to dive deep in a discussion with Fernando Zandona, CEO at Mambu, on Mambu's history, journey, and how they are providing solutions for fintechs and banks around the world.